Ratan Naval Tata, born on December 28, 1937, is a renowned Indian industrialist, philanthropist, and former chairman of Tata Sons. He led the Tata Group as chairman from 1990 until 2012 and served as interim chairman from October 2016 to February 2017. Even after his retirement, he continues to oversee the charitable trusts of the Tata Group.
Tata’s contributions to India have been widely recognized. In 2008, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian honor, following his receipt of the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian honor, in 2000.
He is the son of Naval Tata, who was adopted by Ratanji Tata, the son of Jamsetji Tata, the founder of the Tata Group. Ratan Tata holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Cornell University College of Architecture. He began his career at Tata in 1961, working on the shop floor of Tata Steel. In 1991, he succeeded J. R. D. Tata as chairman of Tata Sons upon the latter’s retirement. During his leadership, the Tata Group expanded globally, acquiring notable companies such as Tetley, Jaguar Land Rover, and Corus.
Ratan Tata is one of the world’s most generous philanthropists, having donated approximately 60-65% of his income to various charitable causes. Besides his philanthropic endeavors, he is a prolific investor with a keen interest in startups. He has personally invested in over 30 startups and continues to foster innovation and entrepreneurship through his investment company.
Early Life & Education
Ratan Naval Tata was born on December 28, 1937, in Bombay, now known as Mumbai, during the British Raj, into a Parsi Zoroastrian family. He is the son of Naval Tata, who was born in Surat and later adopted into the Tata family, and Sooni Tata, the niece of Tata Group founder Jamsetji Tata. Tata’s biological grandfather, Hormusji Tata, was a member of the Tata family by blood. In 1948, when Tata was 10, his parents separated, and he was subsequently raised and adopted by Navajbai Tata, his grandmother and widow of Ratanji Tata. He has a younger brother, Jimmy Tata, and a half-brother, Noel Tata, from Naval Tata’s second marriage with Simone Tata, with whom he was raised.
Ratan Tata studied at the Campion School, Mumbai until the 8th grade. After that, he attended the Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai, the Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, and the Riverdale Country School in New York City, from which he graduated in 1955. After graduating from high school, Tata enrolled at Cornell University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture in 1959. In 2008, Tata gifted Cornell $50 million, becoming the largest international donor in the university’s history.
Career
In the 1970s, Ratan Naval Tata was given a managerial position in the Tata Group. He achieved initial success by turning the subsidiary National Radio and Electronics (NELCO) around, only to see it collapse during an economic slowdown. In 1991, J. R. D. Tata stepped down as chairman of Tata Sons, naming Ratan Tata as his successor.
Initially, Tata faced stiff resistance from the heads of various subsidiaries, who had enjoyed a large amount of operational freedom under the senior Tata’s tenure. In response, Tata implemented several policies designed to consolidate power, including the introduction of retirement age, requiring subsidiaries to report directly to the group office, and mandating that subsidiaries contribute their profit to building the Tata Group brand.
Ratan Tata prioritized innovation and delegated many responsibilities to younger talent. Under his leadership, overlapping operations between subsidiaries were streamlined into company-wide operations, with the group exiting unrelated businesses to embrace globalization.
Career Achievements and Investments
During the 21 years Ratan Naval Tata led the Tata Group, revenues grew over 40 times, and profits increased more than 50 times. When he took over the company, sales were predominantly composed of commodity sales, but by the end of his tenure, the majority of sales came from branded products. He spearheaded significant acquisitions such as Tata Tea acquiring Tetley, Tata Motors acquiring Jaguar Land Rover, and Tata Steel acquiring Corus. These strategic moves transformed the Tata Group from a largely India-centric entity into a global business, with over 65% of its revenues coming from international operations and sales.
Ratan Tata also conceptualized and led the development of the Tata Nano car, making car ownership affordable for the average Indian consumer. Tata Motors has since rolled out the first batch of Tigor Electric Vehicles from its Sanand Plant in Gujarat, which Tata described as “fast-forward[ing] India’s electric dream.”
Upon turning 75, Ratan Tata resigned his executive powers in the Tata Group on December 28, 2012. An ensuing leadership crisis over his succession attracted intense media scrutiny. The board of directors and the legal division of the company initially refused to appoint his successor, Cyrus Mistry, a relative of Tata and the son of Pallonji Mistry of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, which was the largest individual shareholder of the Tata Group. On October 24, 2016, Cyrus Mistry was removed as chairman of Tata Sons, and Ratan Tata was appointed interim chairman. A selection committee, which included Tata as a member, was formed to find a successor. On January 12, 2017, Natarajan Chandrasekaran was named chairman of Tata Sons, a role he assumed in February 2017. In February 2017, Mistry was also removed as a director of Tata Sons. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal later ruled in December 2019 that the removal of Cyrus Mistry as chairman of Tata Sons was illegal and ordered his reinstatement. However, on appeal, India’s Supreme Court upheld the dismissal of Cyrus Mistry.
Ratan Tata has also invested in multiple companies with his wealth. He invested in Snapdeal, one of India’s leading e-commerce websites. In January 2016, he invested in Teabox, an online premium Indian tea seller, and CashKaro.com, a discount coupon and cash-back website. He has made small investments in both early and late-stage companies in India, such as INR 0.95 Cr in Ola Cabs. In April 2015, it was reported that Tata had acquired a stake in Chinese smartphone startup Xiaomi. In 2016, he invested in Nestaway, an online real-estate portal that later acquired Zenify to expand into the online real-estate and pet-care markets. Tata also launched India’s companionship startup for senior citizens, Goodfellows, to encourage intergenerational friendships.
Philanthropy
Ratan Naval Tata is a strong advocate for education, medicine, and rural development, and is widely regarded as a leading philanthropist in India. Tata has supported the University of New South Wales Faculty of Engineering in developing capacitive deionization to provide improved water for challenged areas.
Tata Hall at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) is a state-of-the-art research facility that opened in November 2018. The building is named after the Tata Trusts, which donated $70 million to UC San Diego in 2016 to establish the Tata Institute for Genetics and Society (TIGS). The institute, housed within the building, focuses on biotechnology and researches genetics and disease control. The 4-story, 128,000-square-foot building features advanced laboratories, offices, and meeting spaces designed to foster collaboration and innovation among researchers. It is also LEED-certified, emphasizing environmental sustainability and energy efficiency.
The Tata Education and Development Trust, a philanthropic affiliate of the Tata Group, endowed a $28 million Tata Scholarship Fund at Cornell University to provide financial aid to undergraduate students from India. This scholarship supports approximately 20 scholars at any given time and ensures that top Indian students have access to Cornell, regardless of their financial circumstances. The scholarship is awarded annually and covers the duration of the recipients’ undergraduate studies at Cornell.
In 2010, Tata Group companies and Tata charities donated $50 million for the construction of an executive center at Harvard Business School (HBS). The executive center, named Tata Hall after Ratan Tata (AMP ’75), is located in the northeast corner of the HBS campus and is dedicated to the Harvard Business School’s mid-career Executive Education program. The seven-story, 155,000-square-foot building houses approximately 180 bedrooms, along with academic and multi-purpose spaces.
The Tata Innovation Center at Cornell Tech, named after Ratan Tata, is a mixed-use building on Roosevelt Island that blends academics and industry. It serves primarily as a business incubator for students, faculty, and staff, with 70% of the building commercially leased and 30% devoted to academic space. Tata Consultancy Services is a tenant in the space.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) made the largest-ever donation by a company to Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) for a facility to research cognitive systems and autonomous vehicles. TCS donated $35 million for this 48,000-square-foot building, named TCS Hall.
In 2014, the Tata Group endowed the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, forming the Tata Center for Technology and Design (TCTD) to develop design and engineering principles suited to the needs of communities with limited resources. They donated ₹950 million to the institute, the largest donation in its history.
Tata Trusts, under the chairmanship of Ratan Tata, provided a grant of ₹750 million to the Centre for Neuroscience at the Indian Institute of Science to study the mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s disease and to develop methods for its early diagnosis and treatment. This grant, spread over five years starting in 2014, aims to advance research in this critical area.
Under the leadership of Ratan Tata, the Tata Group established the MIT Tata Center of Technology and Design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to address the challenges of resource-constrained communities, with an initial focus on India.
Board Memberships and Affiliations
Ratan Naval Tata served as the interim chairman of Tata Sons and continues to lead the Sir Dorabji Tata and Allied Trusts and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and their allied trusts, which together hold a 66% stake in Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group.
Tata has held various positions in organizations both in India and internationally. He is a member of the Prime Minister’s ‘Council on Trade and Industry’ and the ‘National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council’. He also serves on the jury panel of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, one of the world’s premier architecture awards.
Throughout his career, Ratan Tata has been deeply involved with Cornell University, serving on the Board of Trustees and advising the administration on international projects, especially those connected to India. He has contributed to the board’s Academic Affairs, Student Life, and Development Committees. In 2013, he was honored as Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year.
Tata is also a director on the boards of Alcoa Inc., Mondelez International, and the Board of Governors of the East-West Center. Additionally, he is a trustee of the University of Southern California, a member of the Harvard Business School Board of Dean’s Advisors, the X Prize, and Cornell University. He serves on the International Advisory Council at Bocconi University.
Since 2006, Tata has been a member of the Harvard Business School India Advisory Board (IAB) and previously served on the Harvard Business School Asia-Pacific Advisory Board (APAB) from 2001 to 2006. He is also on the advisory board of Hakluyt & Co., an international consultancy firm.
In 2013, Ratan Tata was appointed to the board of trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In February 2015, he took an advisory role at Kalari Capital, a venture capital firm founded by Vani Kola.
In October 2016, Tata Sons removed Cyrus Mistry as its chairman, nearly four years after he took over the reins of the over $100 billion conglomerate. Ratan Tata returned as interim chairman for four months. On January 12, 2017, Natarajan Chandrasekaran was named chairman of Tata Sons, assuming the role in February 2017.
Honours and Awards
Ratan Naval Tata has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards for his contributions to industry and society. He received the Padma Bhushan in 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2008, the third and second highest civilian honors awarded by the Government of India, respectively.
In addition to national honors, Tata has been acknowledged with various state civilian awards. He was conferred with the ‘Maharashtra Bhushan’ in 2006 for his significant work in public administration in Maharashtra. In 2021, he received the ‘Assam Baibhav’ for his exceptional contribution towards advancing cancer care in Assam.
Personal Life
Ratan Naval Tata has never married and has no children. In 2011, Ratan Tata shared, “I came close to getting married four times and each time I backed off in fear or for one reason or another.”
In Popular Culture
Ratan Naval Tata was featured in the Indian documentary television series Mega Icons (2018–2020) on National Geographic. The series, which highlights prominent Indian personalities, dedicated an episode to Ratan Tata’s significant contributions.
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